


The Sisterhood of Scathach

by shutendouji



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Assassins, Dovakiin's Past, For Soups, Gen, I Might Write More About This Upon Soups' Request, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, No Ships Because Dovakiin Is 11, Some Origins Stuff, Stuff 11-Year-Olds Should Not Get Wrapped Up In, Vampires, child!Dovakiin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 06:58:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11435574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shutendouji/pseuds/shutendouji
Summary: Skadi, a young orphan, wanders into The Bee and Barb to steal some food, and ends up discovering a rather interesting folktale that she hopes to be true…





	The Sisterhood of Scathach

**Author's Note:**

> For Soups! I loved your prompt about the female nomad hunters, so I ran with it and made it a tiny backstory for my dragonborn! I hope you like it!

 

There were three facts that Skadi was absolutely sure of, even at the young age of eleven. One, that Grelod the Kind was anything but kind. Two, that food you could steal would always taste better than whatever Grelod served. And three, if you ever wanted the best food, you went to The Bee and Barb.

She wasn’t, of course, old enough to go into the bar portion of the inn; she had five years to go before she was of legal drinking age in Skyrim. But the law hardly stopped Skadi from doing what she wanted—or needed. She knew just how to get around Keerava to steal bread, cheese, and sweetrolls, and maybe a swig of mead or two if she got lucky. But one time, while she was crouched behind the counter and chewing on a bread roll, she heard some distant chatter.

“Did you see them, too?” a man’s voice asked in a crackling whisper.

“They don’t exist,” a woman—Skadi recognized the voice to be Sapphire, a teenager who hovered in the tavern often—responded scathingly. “I would’ve found them, all the times I’ve been out and about in these parts. Besides, everyone dies. It’s impossible to have some immortal woman gang.”

_Immortal woman gang?_ Skadi strained to listen.

“Then who else jumped me?”

Knowing Sapphire, Skadi could almost feel her roll her eyes. “There’s loads of bandits everywhere in Skyrim, and you’re saying they’re the Sisterhood of Scathach? I fucking doubt it.”

“But they had the staff!”

Skadi desperately wanted to hear more about the staff, but she felt Keerava, the Argonian owner of The Bee and Barb, grasp onto her shirt collar. “If you wanted food,” Keerava hissed, pulling Skadi up, “You could’ve just asked like a civilized being. Now get out of here!”

Keerava threw Skadi out of the inn, and Skadi watched, sitting in the snow, as the Argonian slammed the door shut.

Skadi exhaled and grinned to herself, pulling a sweetroll and a clump of cheese out of her shirt and continued eating in the snow. Once Skadi ate her fill, she got to her feet to leave, but a man leaving The Bee and Barb stopped her.

“Do you know anything about the Sisterhood of Scathach?”

Skadi shook her head.

“Please.” He slipped Skadi a few septims. “Tell me anything you know.”

Skadi shook her head more vigorously. “I don’t get out of Riften ever. I live in the orphanage here. Besides, I think bandits’d eat me alive if I set foot outta town.”

The man sighed. “Would you like to go on an adventure?”

Before Skadi could say no, Sapphire stepped out of the inn and shouted to the stranger, “If you’re asking the local orphans to help you find the Sisterhood, I’ll literally scoop out your eyeballs and eat them like candy!”

He turned. “But everyone knows that it’s the children who know everything!”

“I don’t know shit,” Skadi said, running to Sapphire’s side. “What’s the story?”

“The Sisterhood of Scathach are a group of nomadic hunters and thieves. They’re mixed race, but mostly elves, from what I’ve seen.”

“You didn’t see _shit_ ,” Sapphire hissed.

The stranger ignored her. “There’s about ten of them, and they travel on these horses that look like they come from the Void itself. Countless hunters, bandits, even the Forsworn on the other side of Skyrim have stories of these women, and how they’re basically immortal. They can be killed, but they never get sick. Their weaknesses are unknown. They tend to prey upon travelers at night, stealing their belongings, sometimes their blood. Legend has it that their leader, Scathach, is a pure blood vampire.”

Sapphire covered Skadi’s ears. “Let’s not fill her head with bullshit, Malachi. She needs to get back home.”

Skadi struggled against Sapphire. “Please don’t make me go back to Grelod! I thought I trusted you!”

Sapphire’s face remained impassive. “Children shouldn’t be out this late and in the cold. I’m taking her home. Malachi, if you want to know more about the Sisterhood of Scathach, ask a bookstore. They’ll have loads of good fiction for you to read.”

Before Malachi could protest, Sapphire slung Skadi over her shoulder and carried her off. Skadi blinked away tears of fear as she thought of being beat by Grelod.

“Quit your whining,” Sapphire muttered to Skadi. “We’re not going there.”

“Then where are you taking me?”

“To Scathach.”

Skadi laughed and wiped away a tear. “No, where are you taking me?”

“Did I fucking stutter?”

Skadi stopped struggling. “Scathach is real?”

“Yes, the Sisters need to keep people from knowing about them.”

“ _What_?”

“When I was a child, I lived on a farm. Bandits ravaged the place, killed my parents, and…” Sapphire’s voice trailed off, and Skadi felt Sapphire shake a bit. “Anyway. I killed them, eventually, which gained the attention of the Dark Brotherhood. I joined the Brotherhood, as you know, and that is where I met the Sisterhood. They’re a faction of the Dark Brotherhood, and Scathach is the leader of that faction. They’re all vampires. They’ve also got an alliance with the Thieves Guild, so they steal when necessary. The part the locals got wrong is the staff, though. People are convinced that Scathach owns the Staff of Molag Bal, when in reality, there’s no such thing. So if there’s a gang of women pretending to be the Sisterhood of Scathach…well, Scathach better know about it and put an end to it.”

Skadi was no stranger to the Dark Brotherhood and had no reason to fear them. After all, they saved her life; a man who worked for Grelod tried to kill her—and worse—and Sapphire stepped in. Someone had contacted the Dark Brotherhood about him a while ago, apparently, and that night just so happened to be the night when Sapphire executed the deed. Since then, Skadi had seen the girl like an older, murderous sister. “Why does the Dark Brotherhood need a group of people like that? They’re already good enough, ain’t they?”

“The Sisterhood are sort of the eyes and ears of the Brotherhood. They feed from and kill off those who witness the deeds of the Brotherhood, keep the streets clean of dangerous gangs—they’ve been at war with the Forsworn for years—and they keep children safe.”

“If they keep children safe, how come you didn’t take me there immediately?”

“Because Scathach has to approve of the children she takes in. If she just took in any stray, she’d put Grelod out of business.”

“I hope she does.”

“Grelod being awful aside, Scathach needs young warriors on her side. And you’ve shown me that you have a good spirit over the last year, so I feel that I should present you to her, especially now that you have some knowledge of their existence.”

Skadi couldn’t believe it. Would she finally be out of Grelod’s hands for years? She couldn’t wait to join Sapphire in being affiliated with the Dark Brotherhood. She always dreamed of going on these grand adventures, slaying her way to victory and having a few drinks with her comrades.

After Riften was well out of sight, Sapphire lowered Skadi to the ground so she could walk. “If you’re strong enough to become a Sister, you’re strong enough to walk.”

Skadi nodded in agreement and broke Sapphire off a piece of her sweet roll she was saving.

Sapphire rolled her eyes but took it anyway. “How about we go to an inn later and I’ll buy you a real meal?”

Skadi’s eyes grew wide. “You got money for that?”

“Of course I do. Assassins get paid.”

And the two did just that. They walked for several miles in the dark, stopped by a few wolves on the way (which Sapphire handled with ease). It had to have been near midnight by the time they made it to Ivarstead, and Skadi was so exhausted she could barely keep her eyes open. She vaguely remembered stepping foot into Vilemyr Inn, devouring whatever food Sapphire shoved in front of her, and passing out the minute her head hit the pillow.

-

It was late in the morning once Skadi awoke, and at first, she was dreadfully confused. The warm quilts were nothing Skadi was used to in the orphanage, and the voices she heard in the next room were unfamiliar. As she sat up, she noticed that her usual dress was replaced with a black leather pants and shirt, complete with boots that looked like Sapphire’s. Feeling like a real adventurer, Skadi didn’t hesitate to put them on. Skadi wasn’t a small child, being the Nord she was, but the clothes were still a bit big for her. It smelled a bit like Sapphire, and Skadi slowly realized that this must have been one of Sapphire’s old armor pieces, long outgrown. At the bottom of the pile of clothes was a dagger, a sapphire on the back of the hilt. She inspected the clean blade, noticing a few scratches of use before she decided to slide it into her belt’s sheath. After taking a few minutes to wash the dirt off of her face and brush her long red hair, she left to find Sapphire.

In true Sapphire nature, Skadi found her arguing with a man sitting next to her.

“Fuck off! I’m not interested—“

“I’m not like other men, dear—“

“I don’t care what you’re like—“

“Hey!” Skadi announced her presence with a wave and a shout.

Sapphire turned and gave her a rare grin. “You look adorable!”

The man got up to leave. “Gross! You didn’t tell me you were a mother!”

He left his wallet on the table. Sapphire pocketed it. “Pig,” she muttered. “Anyway!” She turned again to admire Skadi’s new clothes. “It’s a little big, but it suits you. It should provide a bit of protection while you’re on the move, and it’s light armor, so it won’t be too bulky or make you too loud.”

“Was this yours?” Skadi decided to ask.

Sapphire nodded. “The Sisters gave it to me shortly after I joined the Dark Brotherhood. I’ve grown since then, so I decided to give it to you.” Noticing the hilt of the dagger, Sapphire added, “I see you found my other gift.”

“You trust me to defend myself?”

“Sure. I used that dagger to kill my captors years ago. I wasn’t much older than you.”

A chill went up Skadi’s spine. “So you’re giving it to me?”

“I have other weapons I prefer now. But she’s a good blade. I trust you to use her well.”

Skadi nodded. “I will.”

Sapphire stretched with a yawn. “Well, let’s get you some breakfast and be on our way.”

“Can we find ‘em during the day?”

“They should be in a cave now. They don’t need to fear the sun there. Do pancakes sound good?”

Skadi nodded vigorously, and Sapphire got up to order her food. She returned with a coffee for herself and a hot cocoa for Skadi, which she slurped gleefully as she waited for her pancakes.

“So when we get there, please be respectful, and know that affiliating with them will change your life forever here. If you choose, you can go back to Grelod now and try to live a normal life away from murder and danger. But if you decide to join the Sisters, then you’ll live as a nomad, killing on behalf of the Dark Brotherhood, and once you’re of age, you’ll be Turned to a vampire, like Scathach.”

“A pure blood?”

“No, Scathach herself would be the one Turning you.”

“I mean, we already came all this way. I ain’t gonna turn back now. Anything’s gotta be better than living with Grelod.”

Sapphire smiled and ruffled her hair. “I figured you’d say that. I just wanted to make sure.”

Her pancakes were ready then, stacked almost all the way to her chin, glazed with the purest syrup Skadi had ever tasted. “I always thought Keerava was the best cook,” Skadi said with her mouth full, “but now, I’ve moved on to bigger and better tastes!”

Sapphire laughed, then used her hand to close Skadi’s mouth. “Nobody wants to see your food.”

Skadi rolled her eyes, but made an effort to chew with her mouth closed. Once they had eaten their fill, the pair left for the Sisterhood.

The cave Sapphire spoke of really wasn’t far from Ivarstead, not even a mile up the mountain. Sapphire’s map called it Pinepeak Cavern, which Skadi thought was kind of a silly name, since it was nowhere near the peak of the mountain or the peak of the trees. The trees still towered over them.

The cave was far too dark, so Sapphire lit a nearby torch. “Don’t touch anything,” Sapphire warned her. “Any chests you see belong to the Sisterhood, and they’re rigged to keep out thieves.”

Skadi suppressed the urge to open a nearby chest and nodded. Sapphire approached the wall in the back of the cave, Skadi trailing behind, and lit the torch on that one. A door slid open out of the wall, and Sapphire waved for Skadi to follow. The door slammed shut behind them.

They were deep inside the mountain now, and no outside sounds could be heard. Their steps echoed ominously as they walked up the stairs, approaching a door engraved with a skull.

“This is the mark of the Dark Brotherhood, but you can tell that this space belongs to the Sisterhood, because of who speaks when you approach the door.” Sapphire stood before the door, and a woman’s voice echoed through the cavern.

“What keeps us warm in the dark of the sun?” the door asked.

“Blood, my Sister,” Sapphire answered, and the door opened.

It no longer looked like they were inside a cave; rather, it was like the inside of a rather large dining hall, with a long table resting in the middle of the room, doors on all sides.

All of the women at the table stood, eyeing them, until someone said, “Sapphire! You received my letter, I presume.”

Sapphire nodded. “I did.”

A woman clad a similar fashion to Skadi approached them. She was a Dark Elf, a race Skadi hadn’t seen many of before. She found herself rather fascinated with her deep grey skin, her glowing red eyes, her pointed ears protruding from beneath short black hair. She was beautiful in a terrifying way, even though she was shorter than Skadi. “You must be Skadi of Riften,” the woman said, resting her hands to caress Skadi’s cheeks. “I’ve heard so much about you. Let me look at you, child.”

Skadi brought herself to kneel before the woman, since it felt appropriate so the woman didn’t have to lower her head. “I didn’t know she was talking about me,” Skadi replied, shifting her eyes to look at Sapphire.

“I had to get you away from Grelod,” Sapphire explained. “How else do you think I’d find you a new home?”

“I don’t know. By killing her?”

“Members of the Dark Brotherhood don’t kill freely. Someone has to perform the Black Sacrament. But you’ll learn all of this as you spend time with us,” the woman replied. She dropped her hands. “Oh, where are my manners. I’m Scathach.”

“But you don’t look like a queen,” Skadi blurted.

The women at the table raised their weapons.

“I mean!” Skadi raised her hands in protest. “She just seems like one of you! A warrior! She ain’t dressed fancy or nothin’!”

The women exchanged looks. Scathach laughed lightly. “She means no harm by it,” she said, and waved them off.

Her women took a seat after that, exchanging looks.

“How old are you, child?” Scathach then asked her.

“Eleven,” Skadi said.

“Then you’re old enough to understand. Power is evil. I organized this Sisterhood, but I will never consider myself their queen, regardless of the formalities they throw at me. I dress like just another assassin, because I am.” She took Skadi’s hands then and stood her to her full height. “Are you willing to join us?”

“I didn’t come all this way to just stand here,” Skadi replied, earning a laugh from both Sapphire and Scathach.

“I know this seems to be worlds better than living with Grelod,” Scathach said after her laughter subsided, “but I must warn you: Skyrim is very dangerous. The world you are about to travel in isn’t safe for anyone, especially children. You will train with your Sisters, learn how to fight with a variety of weapons, learn how to hunt, how to steal, and most importantly, how to kill. If you do well, we will officially initiate you to be one of us, once you are of age.”

“Why do I have to wait that long?” Skadi asked. “I’ve always wanted to be a vampire.”

“Because being an immortal child would be hell. Has Sapphire introduced you to Babette?”

Skadi shook her head.

“Babette looks to be a child around your age. I don’t know how old she was when she was Turned, but she’s several hundreds of years old now, forever looking to be a preteen. She now works for the Dark Brotherhood, like Sapphire. You will encounter her sometimes. Wonderful woman, she is. But she’s very unhappy about being an eternal child sometimes, because she’s a grown woman in the inside. I would hate to subject you to that.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Skadi said, “but someday?”

“If you serve Sithis well,” Scathach said with a smile, “then you can be a woman of the night like me.”

“Alright. Where do we start?”

Scathach ruffled her hair. “Oh, we’re gonna go on so many adventures…”


End file.
